bill: mr. side order back there, left the button. i don't think that belonged to him. maybe we can find someone on the staff that is missing one. see you on the radio.

martha: "happening now" starts right now. we'll see you in a few minutes. jenna: a rescue effort underway after a commuter ferry crashes in new york city. the new york city mayor is now on the scene getting brief after a boat from new jersey to lower manhattan hit the dock during the height of rush hour. people say more than 50 people are hurt, two of them in critical condition. one with a serious head injury. passengers describing the chaos moments after the crash. one woman said people were tumbling on top of reach other, hysterical and crying. the coast guard getting ready it administer drug and alcohol testing to the ferry's captain and crew. as the national transportation safety board sends a go team to investigate the crash. a lot of movement in manhattan. we'll stay on top of the breaking story. bring you updates throughout the hour. first brand new stories and more breaking news. jon: big battles ahead for president obama as he gets ready to face off with

congress over the debt ceiling, gun control and immigration. the latest on a grew some murder trial underway in phoenix right now for the woman who claims she shot her boyfriend, stabbed him over and over again and slit his throat but all of it, she says, was self-defense. plus, could diet soda cause depression? we'll talk to dr. manny. it is all "happening now." jon: a lot of news to get to today but we begin with this fox news alert on a brand new outbreak of a fast moving and very contagious disease. good wednesday morning, everybody. i'm jon scott. jenna: we're talking about a new strain of norovirus first emerging in australia. known because of that acid any 2012. now it is hitting the united states in 2013. adam housley has more on all

of this. what is going on? >> reporter: this is being watched all across the country. this is flu season and flu outbreak numbers have gone up across the country. this is not flu. a norovirus, gastrointenstinal virus. when you have a new strain goes up by 50%. this strain first showed up on the scene in australia back in september. then it jumped over to the british isles. there are things you look out for, some symptoms we put together to give you idea what you need to watch for if this is something you might have. diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach pain, fever as well. it also occurs and spreads quickly at health care falities, hospitals, nursing homes. we've seen that in utah in nursing homes. restaurants, cruise ships, schools, banquet halls and summer camps. we heard from dr. marc siegel about the danger of this. here's what he had to say. >> what norovirus has in common with the flu is that it mutates rapidly.

it changes. becomes a new strain every year. this new strain which started in australia is a brand new strain. that means twice as many cases. it spreads rapidly. this already made its way from england over to utah. so you can imagine how fast it is going to spread around the united states. >> reporter: yeah, there are 250 missionaries we're told that are sick in utah. it is spreading across the west. other cases popped up. in los angeles some of the local hospitals are talking about they're preparing for this and influx of flu. they're not the same thing but they have a lot of the same symptoms. jenna. jenna: have us reaching for anti-bacterial soap and instant sanitizer, right? how can we protect ourselves, adam? and what about the treatment? >> reporter: you hit the sanitizer right here. this is exactly you can do. that is the most important thinking you can do. that is for flu and colds. use the sanitizer. clean off countertops as well. a leading caution of this illness is from contaminated foods. you can't breathe it or

someone sneezing on you. if they have the norovirus or gastrointestinal illness. you can't get it that way. touching counter they touch or touching your eyes. leafy greens, it is spread through leafy greens quickly. fresh fruits and shellfish as well. really basic thing to do is wash your hands frequently which you do that anyway this time of year because it is a flu and cold season. a couple things to keep and note, just like flu and cold. want to make sure you prevent dehydration. dr. siegel talks about that. you want to keep as many fluids down as possible. what is interesting to me i learned from norovirus and other gastrointenstinal illnesses there is no way to get vaccine for it. if you have the flu vaccine it will not work for this. goes back to the whole idea make sure you use hand sanitizer like you are around the office, like we are this time of year. jenna: you're absolutely right. you never know where jon has been. >> reporter: you have to worry about jon.

you really have to worry about jon. jenna: great information for us as always, adam. jon: at least my kids are older now. big battles with congress may be in the president's future over everything from his nominee for defense secretary to the debt ceiling. not to mention the very hot-button issues of gun control and immigration reform. some say the president might actually be itching for the fights. joining us now juan williams, fox news political analyst. is he spoiling for a fight here, juan? >> i think this lame duck has some bite, jon. i think he feels at the moment that he has won the majority of the american vote twice now. at is strongest he will be for some time. you think how a lame duck starts to lose political power in this town after about six to eight months. so this is his moment of maximum leverage, jon. he is going to try to use it, i think, to force things through. i think that is why he is, decided that the nomination like chuck hagel, which is

fairly controversial, nonetheless is sure to be a winner for him because he's got the power of the presidency at a moment when he feels, you know, it is never going to be more powerful for him and in the rest of the second term. jon: i made that observation the other day because chuck hagel is not popular among some, even in the republican party. so the president gets to look bipartisan by nominating a republican, but it's a republican who doesn't enjoy widespread support or at least unanimous support from members of his own party. >> well, you know, you touched on something among the political pros in washington is much, a point of much conversation. you know he had challenged mitch mcconnell for leadership post while he was in the senate. so mcconnell doesn't have a whole lot of love for him. don't forget, he endorsed john kerry in that nebraska senate race that recently went to a republican. so people don't, of course he was opposed to the war. he opposed the surge in iraq. so the bush administration folks, again they don't have a whole lot of love but

mitch mcconnell has said that chuck hagel will get a fair hearing. i think it is likely he will be confirmed, but again for the president's perspective, he has nominated a republican and he has put republicans in the position of having to reject one of their own if they reject chuck hagel. jon: one political website put it this way. they said mr. obama has decided that the best way to deal with the capitol is to throw rocks at it and send in vice president biden to clean up the glass, witness the gun control thing. he has joe biden, you know, chairing this commission that wants to do something about guns. >> well, you got two critical issues. you mentioned them at the top, jon, two critical issues. one is immigration, the second is gun control i think could form again second term legacy, help this president avoid second term failure which is so common, for presidencies. you think back to everything from watergate to iran-contra to monica lewinsky, second terms are big problems. so the idea is to go bold and on these two issues,

immigration and gun recontrol reform the president hopes that he can form a package and again, working with the congress more so than fighting them though. to get something actually passed. and i think those two issues you may see him be far more conciliatory than on, for example, dealing with budget issues, debt ceiling issues, the issues coming up in the short term here. jon: but he would also like to see a democratic majority in the house for the last two years of his term defying the odds on something like that? >> correct. so there are some political strategists around washington think that really the goal here is to isolate the republican majority in the house and hopefully get a democratic majority for the last two years of the obama term. that may be a long term goal. he is a democrat obviously. jon: is that so say politics is more important than progress in the country? >> that is the crazy part. you know we don't talk about it. president's ratings are pretty good right now.

congress's ratings are in the toilet but the thing is, that the american people do want people who govern, people who will do something in washington, especially when it comes to the economy. it is time to get something done. i think that is the overwhelming results we see see in poll numbers, yet both sides are positioning if they're involved in political campaigning. jon: that fiscal cliff thing was a pretty good example. >> oh, my goodness. jon: let's not get you started on that. thank you, juan. >> you're welcome, jon. jenna: right now we're following some new developments in the colorado movie massacre. prosecutors expected to finish with their last witness today in this preliminary hearing as they outline their case against accused mass murderer james holmes. meantime the lawyers for james holmes are expected to present an insanity defense of a point he hadly asking a key witness about this issue during yesterday's freddings. the hearings will determine if there is enough evidence to put holmes on trial for

murdering 12 people and wounding dozens more. alicia acuna is live with the latest outside the courthouse. this is difficult to hear the details what transpired in that movie theater in july. even for veteran police officer detailing the story it has been very emotional. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: it has been particularly for them. sergeant matthew files was on the stand yesterday and is on the stand again today. he is the third member of law enforcement. he is with aurora pd, he is the third member of law enforcement to break down on the stand. he will finish his testimony as the hearing gets underway this morning here in centennial, colorado. he is doing listing of each person who was injured in the theater last july and how they were wounded. prosecutors are going over each of the 166 counts against james holmes. we also heard from an fbi bomb tech, an atf supervisor, who testified about the extent to which holmes

booby-trapped his apartment with homemade napalm, propane and gas triggers. in the two months leading up tote shooting holmes purchased 6295 rounds of ammunition as well as tear gas, ballistic gear and handcuffs. on cross-examinations holmes defense attorney asked one of the agents if there was anything in colorado law that prevented someone with mental illness from making any of these purchases and the agent said no, jenna. jenna: there comes up for one of the first times it is coming up in this preliminary hearing. we know the defense will be calling its own witness. tell us about who those people potentially could be and also how does that procedure, a defense calling witnesses in this preliminary hearing, how typical is that? >> that isn't something that usually happens but legal analysts are saying that what they think is happening here is that the defense is using this opportunity in the hearing to start the process of bringing their

insanity defense. so we expect the witnesses that will likely testify, we don't know exactly who they are because of the gag order, but we're thinking, and legal analysts talk here is that these will be people who will testify about holmes odd and erratic behavior in the months before the shooting but it is possible holmes may have sidelined that defense when he was arrested. multiple officers testified holm followed commands and understood instructions. he was compliant and warned them of the dangers in his apartment. >> the most interesting piece of evidence is that holmes volunteered that his apartment was booby-trapped. was that a spark of humanity or was that knowledge of the difference between right versus wrong? >> reporter: also keep in mind a plea agreement could come at any time. jenna? jenna: we certainly will keep that in mind. alicia, thank you. jon: in some respect as similar case. a woman accused of keeping

bomb-making materials in her apartment in new york city. she is out on bail now. the latest in the case against her and her boyfriend and how this was all discovered. plus, former ohio congressman dennis kucinich joins us to talk about the next big battle in washington. this one over the debt ceiling. here comes the congressman. alright let's break it down. mom, pop it. ♪ two inches apart, becky. two inches. t-minus nine minutes. [ ding ] [ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls. let the making begin. ♪

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visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪ nice sweater. thank you. ♪ jenna: right now an update on crime tore i -- stories we're following here on a "happening now", including this one from illinois. the widow of a lottery winner who says, who was mysteriously poisoned. she doesn't know who in the family asked police to investigate her husband's believed he died of

natural causes in july. a relative's request for a deeper look revealed he was killed by a highly toxic poison around the time he was going to collect $425,000 in winnings. in california the attorneys are presented final arguments in a trial of a boy who was 10 when he killed his neo-nazi father while he slept. if the boy is charged with murderer and convicted could behind bars until the age of 23. a woman in new york city accused of keeping bomb-making materials in their greenwich village apartment is out on bail. she was released after giving birth to her daughter while in custody. her boyfriend is being held without bail. jon? jon: new information on the showdown in washington now over our nation's debt ceiling. take a live look at the national debt clock already over the limit. lawmakers have a few more weeks to get the whole issue sorted out before the government can no longer write checks to pay its

bills. president obama insisting he will not negotiate on this. republicans are refusing to budge. and the clock keeps ticking and climbing. let's talk about it now with a man who spent a lot of time looking into this. dennis kucinich a former democratic congressman from ohio. we say former. it is just this year. first session of congress in a long time. >> last wreak. jon: just since last week you haven't been there. what is the solution here? >> well, no, yes, we do need to have a disinmr. ed approach to spending, there's no question about that and things are out of control. when you look at the fact that the national debt in 2002 was about the $6.2 trillion. now it is headed towards 16.4. we can no longer handle this just by talking about cutting spending. we have to go and look at the structural issues dealing with our money supply. until we do that, congress must do that, but what we

can't do, we can not let our country go into default. we can not let our economy go in the tank because of this partisan argument over the debt. jon: you say that it is as, partisan as you have ever seen it on capitol hill. >> very polarized. jon: you were there for a long time obviously. tea party folks in the congress were elected to hold the line on spending. president obama thinks he was, you know, says he was elected to raise taxes especially on the wealthy. so where do you find that common ground? >> you know, there is wasteful spending. if you look at the fact we were led into wars that added trillions of dollars to the debt, borrowing money from china, japan, south korea, to pursue wars that were sketchy at best and based on lies at worst, the fact that america hags a global footprint aggressively going around the planet but yet look at last week. we're at a debate trying to fix new jersey, new york, connecticut, the places that were hit by the storm.

and we're not meeting our own needs for our people here at home and yet america is just expanding around the globe. we have to start focusing on the real needs of this country, and when we do that, we also need to look at the structure of how we handle our money, because, it is out of control. people are concerned about having a disinmr. ed approach towards spending. they're absolutely right. it is a question of priorities. we have to go back over that. but you don't send a country over the edge while you're debating that. you find a way to manage your fiscal affairs, you address the debt issue structurally, and at the same time you start to bring down the spending in those areas that are not going to hurt the american people. jon: but medicare, and social securities are the big drivers of our debt problem, aren't they. >> social security is not connected with this at all. if social security has the problem 30 years down the road you lift the caps attributable, social security taxation can be reached by. but you know what though. the fact they're throwing social security in the mix

shows desperation that exists to try to lay off on old people the solutions of the country's debt problems which go back 30 years because it started expanding rapidly in 1978. jon: why not 10% cut across the board in all federal programs? >> well the problem with that is we're not really weighing what 10% means if you're going to cut 10% of social security, what that means in reducing benefits. on the other hand, can, let's say the pentagon absorb a 10% cut? i suppose it could absorb a cut but the question is, we can not go into default while we're debating these things. you have to increase the debt ceiling and keep the debate going and look to continue to cut spending. jon: we'll have you back another time to talk more about this. you obviously put a lot of thought into it. former congressman dennis kucinich. >> thank you. jenna: speaking after the pentagon, we talked a let about the planned troop withdrawal in afghanistan. now there is word the united states may take out all the troops leaving no american soldiers there. what is behind the so-called

zero option? we go in depth next.

jon: a fox news alert now. new details emerging on that commuter ferry crash in new york city. rick is live at the breaking news desk for us. >> we're tracking this from down in the newsroom because the details are changing quickly, jon. as you say a commuter ferry bringing people from new jersey along the east river to lower manhattan. we're told that's when they had what is called a hard landing. the ferry captain trying to dock right at the pier. not clear why there was this hard landing but there are many injuries. 57 people were hurt. two critically. nine are in serious condition. this ferry was carrying around 350 passengers and crew at the time of the accident. video from the scene shows people on stretchers right at the pier getting medical help there. several others were taken to local hospitals.

this happened about a quarter to 9:00 this morning. i remind a lot of people about a much more serious ferry accident almost 10 years ago. a staten island ferry vessel slamming into a terminal there, killing 11 people and injuring 71. the coast guard confirm firming captain of the fer which will be tested for drugs and alcohol that is pretty standard. ntsb is getting involved. as we learn more we'll pass it on to you. jon: please do. rick folbaum, thanks. jenna: new information on the plans for u.s. troop withdrawals from afghanistan with the zero option very much on the table. meaning the obama administration would not leave any american troops in afghanistan after the end of next year. this would be at odds with the pentagon view, perhaps thousands, maybe tens of thoses of troops are needed to contain al qaeda and remain in the country. the sticking point seems to be the issue of immunity. the u.s. demanding that any american troops that remain in afghanistan after the combat mission ends be granted immunity from

prosecution under afghan law. to date president karzai, currently in washington, has resisted this. joining us now, ambassador john bolton, former u.n. ambassador to the u.n. and fox news contributor. so, ambassador bolton, president karzai says this, give us a good army, a good air force and the capability to project afghan interests in the region and then, only then will you get your immunity. what do you think about that? >> well i think that is a losing proposition for hamid karzai. it's a losing proposition for is too. look, this legal question of immunity may sound kind of abstract and technical but it's absolutely critical. the united states is not going to put its armed forces or its diplomats or its contractors under afghan law. they are representing sovereign american interests and our law controls. that's a point we have insisted on around the world for years. now this is a bargaining position by hamid karzai.

tough negotiation can handle it but it is not something we should give in on. jenna: we didn't get that immunity from the iraqi government and we did withdraw all of our troops out of that country. do you think there's a real possibility that that could be the case in afghanistan? that we do not find common ground here? >> look, i think this is an excuse and think the obama administration which wanted to find a way not to keep our troops in iraq, wants to find a way not to keep our troops in afghanistan. i think this is a guaranty for a taliban takeover, resurgence of al qaeda, the sacrifice of everything our troops have won for us over there and as i say, i think this is a question of getting some good negotiators. we could have resolved that program in iraq if we had the will and tenacity to do so. we can do it here in afghanistan as as well. i think it is less a question of what hamid karzai wants but more a question of what barack obama wants or doesn't want. jenna: that is a big

question. we heard from general allen reports that he had suggested to the pentagon upwards of wanting 20,000 troops to remain in the country after the end of 2014. what do you think about the fact that this debate, this negotiation, this floating of the idea of the zero option, is happening very much in the public sphere? that we're talking about it now, that it is out in the open rather than behind closed doors, how does that impact things? >> i think this is what the president wants. i don't think he wants to be in afghanistan. forget after 2014. i think he would like to withdraw this year. and i think a lot of numbers above zero that you're hearing are just numbers drawn out of a hat. they're not numbers based on force requirements or the strategic situation on the ground in afghanistan. this is just a pure numbers game and where it leads is zero because i fear that's what the president wants. look, we're in afghanistan to protect american interests. we're not there to make afghanistan a nicer place. we're there to prevent terrorist attacks against

the united states and if we're not prepared to do that, we need to have a national public debate about it, something we have avoided for four years, two our detriment. jenna: real quick here, one of the white house officials, deputy national security advisor says that they don't have a number. they say there are no x-number about of troops in afghanistan. but objective there is no safe haven for al qaeda there and making sure the afghan government has the security force it needs. would you add anything to that list? what do you think of those objectives laid out by the white house publicly? >> i think that is nothing but rhetoric by the white house. they have undercut our ability to achieve our objectives in afghanistan over the last four years, setting premature deadlines for troop withdrawal. we're just seeing another song and dance here. i think to justify a total pullout. that is where i think the president wants to be. jenna: we have this conversation now, while combat troops, 66,000, still very much in afghanistan and the war very real to them for the next two years.

ambassador bolton, great to have you with us today. >> thank you. jon: u.s. banks are under virtual attack now. a new report names the culprit. who is behind the cyber threat to major u.s. financial institutions? and is your money safe? also, jurors see images of a brutal murder scene. the defendant accused of shooting her boyfriend and stabbing him nearly 30 times but she ! -- ! claims it was self-defense. the latest from the courtroom coming up but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

jenna: new video just into our newsroom. the vice president, joe biden meeting with gun safety organizations as well vi. attorney general eric holder is also present. this is the first in a series of meetings that the vice president is having to come up with a plan as part of the task force that the president announced in reaction to the newtown, connecticut, elementary school murders. one of the news items that crossed from reuters that we wanted to emphasize for you is that the vice president just said that he believes that the president will consider executive orders when it comes to the suggestion of this committee, meaning the president will not turn to congress in a vote, potentially with the ideas that come up from this committee. now the president has said his team will look at many dynamics in play, including mental illness, for example, not just gun laws but certainly gun laws are very much the focus of the national debate in all of this. that is one of the reasons

we're paying close attention to it here on "happening now.". jon: now this "fox business alert." serious new concerns regarding the safety of banks across the country. government officials now say iran is likely behind a series of recent bank hacks involving 10 major financial institutions since september and the attacks are likely to continue. joining us now fox business network's adam shapiro. these attacks, adam, are different and more troubling than past attacks? >> that's right. some attacks you can trace where the attack is coming from but these attacks actually hijack data centers. think of cloud centers like amazon.com and google. they use the massive data centers to launch even bigger attacks against the financial institutions. just last month, occ, office of the comptroller of the currency, said banks need to admit they have been under cyberattack. we spoke to an expert in the field who has been watching

these attacks for the last several months. he is the senior vice president at radware. he is head of security systems. they're not actually stealing money but doing denial of service. disrupting your ability to get to a bank website. told me quote he is a little anxious we ascribe all blame to one state-sponsored cyberattack event because he suspects it could be more than just for instance, iran. it could be iran in conjunction with another country or an organization that wishes to do harm to the u.s. economy. he will be on the fox business network at 12 noon talking about all of this but that is the latest on these attacks. we've been following it at the fox business website going back to september. jon: scary stuff. adam shapiro thanks. jenna: right now attorneys are getting ready for day four of the jodi arias murder trial. she is accused of stabbing her boyfriend nearly 30 times and then shooting him in the head. jodi arias broke down yesterday as prosecutors showed very graphic photos of the crime scene.

they say she killed her boyfriend in a jealous rage because he was leavinger had. the defense says, her argument it was self-defense. joining us now, faith jenkins, a former prosecutor and chip merlin a criminal defense attorney. faith, interesting to note we have all this detail yet there is no gun and we're having trouble determining if the prosecution has the knife at hand. how does that figure in this case? a lot of details but questions about the murder weapons. >> she confessed to committing the crime. that aspect of murder weapon or how it was done is not an element. she said i did it. the only thing the jury is trying to determine, was this really self-defense. that is where the focus is really on. with with we're seeing another shameless act by joe di, trying to put the strike tim on trial and take the focus away from her own

actions. jenna: do you put her on the stand. >> i don't think you have a choice. only two people were in the room and one of them is dead. travis alexander almost always requires he said/she said and she will have to take take the stand and explain her state of mind why she had to commit the horrific acts. >> she can not take the stand there are too many prior inconsistent statements by her. initially she denied she was ever in the house. the second time she was interviewed by a reporter, she said i was there but there were intruders that committed the crime. if she takes the stand she will be held accountable for every single time she lied in this case and there have been plenty of times. jenna: chip? >> if she doesn't take the stand there will be no evidence whatsoever why she had to do this. in order to raise reasonable doubt she will have to take the stand and viewers should stay tuned. there will be a lot of dramatics at the end of this. faith is right, there were a lot of inconsistent statements that were made but what else is she going

to do? there is a lot of bad evidence against her right now. >> she will be crucified if she takes the stand. jenna: the reason i ask the part about the weapons, details are so horrific of case. i have trouble talking about it on the air. people can look it up if they want to. you have the optics this case. she is not a big woman. she is a woman and she, according to what the prosecution is saying, did this horrible murder all by herself. there are some questions based on that story. just from the optics of it. as a prosecutor how do you get around that? >> i think that people are very curious because you look at her and she's a very attractive woman. she is small in stature and how could you commit this horrible, horrific crime? but the prosecutors have to, they don't have to get around it. she has already said i did this. i was acting in self-defense. so all the prosecutors have to ask at this point, what did travis alexander do in order for her to react the way she did? there is no proof here there

was any physical abuse going on. the only allegations she has made, he was some kind of a sexual deviant. he wanted me to dress up in a maid costume. if that were a standard, half the men in america could be guilty of committing a crime but that is not the standard. jenna: chip? all the men in america now? >> i have, half of the men in nerc just because you have sex doesn't mean it but the truth of the matter a lot of evidence has already come in about these text messages going back and forth and how he treated her in a very subservient way. the things they said don't portray him as a great altar boy. they will have to play on that, the defense will. she, i do believe will have to get on the witness stand if she has any chance whatsoever getting out of this. now her attorney admitted she did the acts but did them in self-defense. there is only two witnesses there as i said. one of them is dead and she will have to explain to the jury or she will have a impossible time i think of getting out of this. >> jenna, those text messages or allegations of verbal abuse will not be

enough in this case because of the brutal nature of this crime. it will simply not be enough for her to succeed with a self-defense theory. jenna: we'll see what happens. the man in question, the man that was murdered was a mormon motivational speaker. part of the defense's plan, and chip mentioned this, to paint him in a completely different light than his public persona. we'll see what they do with this. chip as problem missed, you say it is going to be fireworks. so we'll continue to watch this case. both of you thank you. >> thank you. >> absolutely, jenna. thank you. jenna: i appreciate it very much. jon: we're continuing to follow the commuter ferry crash this morning in new york city. the rescue is still underway. dozens of passengers injured, a couple quite seriously plus what the coast guard wants from the captain and the crew. an ellerly woman making a bizarre discovery after her furnace suddenly went out and the smell of marijuana filled her home. breaking details in a live report, next. eat good fats.

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jenna: this is a fox news alert. a ferry crash in new york city. more than 50 people injured. at least two in critical condition. nine in serious condition according to the latest reports we have. this after the commuter ferry you just saw on your screen there slammed into a dock during rush hour. joining us on the phone, charles roe, with the u.s. coast guard department of public affairs. we still don't know the why of this story, why this accident happened. what can you tell us? >> what i can tell you the coast guard will conduct a thorough investigation as we always do and we'll find out what happened and why. jenna: any rough water out there that could cause this? >> at this time we know of know of sea, or weather conditions that would have had any kind of significant impact upon the ferry's ability to operate under normal conditions. jenna: we mentioned at the top of the show that the coast guard conducts some whole and drug testing of

the cry. where is that in the process? has that already been completed? >> the initial breathalyzer test has been concluded and with negative results. the drug test, because it is in essence a blood test takes a couple of days to process. jenna: we've mentioned the injuries to some of the passengers. can you describe any of those injuries for us? >> no. they have, they, i know that they run the gamut. the last report that we had is consistent with what you folks are telling us, 58 injuries and two of them critical. jenna: where is the coast guard's role in this, beyond just the drug tests and the further investigation as to why it happens? where else is the coast guard do its work in a situation like this? >> well, in, since the ferry is docked, you know, we had no search-and-rescue requirements in this particular case but i mean had this incident occurred

at sea, as it were, then obviously we would be have been involved in search-and-rescue. but in this case our responsibility is to conduct the investigation. jenna: all right. we'll look forward to the results of that investigation. as we mentioned to our viewers, the national transportation safety board also with a go team on the scene helping out with the investigation. charles, thank you for the details on this. interesting to note, jon, that's a headline that we got through this interview, that the breathalyzer tests for the crew being done. initial reports is that they are negative for alcohol. jon: right. jenna: still, the weather is okay here in new york city, the weather was calm. a big question why the accident actually happened. jon: a strange story. they will be looking at that for a long time and waiting for the blood result. >> that's right. jon: heads up all you diet soda lovers. there is a new study out that links your favorite beverage with a higher incidence of depression. a member of the fox news medical a-team with the news

you need to know if you can't get through the day without diet drinks, even punch and iced tea.

jon: there is a new study out that finds a link between depression and soda. researchers with the national institutes of health looking at more than 260,000 adults between ages of 50 and 71 over a 10-year period. they discovered that people who consumed more than four beverages, sweetened drinks a day, had a 30% increased risk of depression. dr. manny alvarez, senior managing editor of foxnewshealth.com, a member of our fox news medical a-team. this applies to diet beverages as well as --

>> diet, regular soda and fruit punch. drinks that are sweetened, that have a lot of sugar, carbonated, and fructose and you consume a lot of it. jon: but diet drinks don't have a lot of sugar? >> but they have other chemicals associated with soda. the at end of the today this has a lot to do with glucose look at depression, people that suffer from depression, some subgroups have imbalance of glucose metabolism. highs and lows. productions of high peaks of insulin, drops in sugar. this is what the story is telling you. the story is telling you that all sodas, okay, if you consume them excessively, are going to interfere down the road with your glucose metabolism. that into itself is going to alter the amount of serotonin which is one of the chemicals in the brain that could predispose you

into developing depression. the numbers are huge. this is 200,000 people study, well-researched looking at the incidents, very well-analyzed. you don't see the same effect. they compare that with coffee drinkers. coffee drinkers did not have that kind of depression, if anything they have better mood elevation. so this tells you how some sugary drinks, whether sweetened or diet can really alter your metabolism. jon: that is good news. i drink a lot of coffee. >> you're always happy. jon: yes, i am. but it found coffee drinkers were not affected about think problem. >> absolutely, coffee has a got of anti-ox dents. especially people that drink black coffee. black coffee is kind of good for you. it has a lot of good potential, positive properties. but when it comes to mood, mood in itself, the chemistry of the brain is very sensitive again this sugar imbalances and when you drink soda that's what

you are going to end up with. jon: this is significant, significantly higher chance, 30%. >> 38% with diet drinks. jon: yeah. >> you know, again, look, all those sodas are chemicals. they're not good for you especially when it comes to your mood. jon: so your prescription? >> my prescription is drink coffee, drink water, drink natural juices. stay away from the sugary drinks. they're not food for you. 150,000 times. they're not good for you. jon: 30% higher incidence of depression among older people who drink a lot of diet drinks. soda, that kind of thing. all right, dr. manny. >> thank you. jenna: more than 50 people injured when a high speed commuter ferry crashes into a dock in new york city. we have the latest on that accident coming up. also new hope for a woman whose husband, a former fbi agent, vanished in 2007. the u.s. government now believes he's a hostage in iran. the latest push to bring him home next. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices

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3w4r5*. >> the fire department was on scene within 3 minutes. 140 firefighters and nypd and another's authorities who set up a temporary triage on the dock to treat the worst of the injured before transporting them to local hospital. here is more. >> the nature of the injuries are basically the two critical patients are head injuries, one was taken to cornell and the other one to another hospital. 20-some order other patients were long boarded for spinal conditions. >> i was told the worst injuries was someone who fell down the stairs. >> that is correct. that was the mechanism of the injure that was the critical patient. >> reporter: again the worst injury a man who fell downstairs and hit glass. a lot of people were cut. that man out of surgery said to be stable. you can see a picture taken by the coast guard from inside the vessel looking out towards the water to show you the size of the whol hole that was ripped

in the hull. the coast guard is in possession of medical samples taken from the crew of five, the alcohol tests have come back negative. but the drug tests will take a few days to see if anyone what's nobodwas under the influence. jon: what a mess. thank you. jenna: from lower manhatten to the washington d.c. area, a high level tax force to reduce gun violence shifting into high gear today at the white house. welcome to a brand-new however "happening now," i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. vice president joe biden ordered to come up with new recommendations by the end of the movements he's holding a series of key groups on all sides of this controversial issue. krarcarl cameron is live in washington with us. carl, gun rights advocates are digging in against new gun laws,

right. >> reporter: sure we've heard from the national rifle association which made its views clear when it proposed armed guards in every school as opposed to any limitation on second amendment rights. biden started his remarks with the horrible shooting in newtown, connecticut where 26 people were killed, 2 20 kids, this is how he put it. >> i don't think anything has touched the american's hearts so profoundly as learning of those young children not only being shot but riddled with bullets, every once in a while -- [inaudible] that treupblg i can event did it in a way like nothing i've seen in my career. >> reporter: today the vice president is meeting with gun control advocates and victims' groups. tomorrow it will be the other side of the coin, the opponents of gun legislation. a new legislation of gun rights

and conservative groups say january 19th will be gun appreciation day. they are urging a big show of support at gun shows and stores at that day. some insiders have indicated that there is urgency and immediacy on this that he could make his proposele ales to th proceed proposals next week. today biden and his team meet with the gun safety groups. tomorrow it's opponents, sports men, hunting groups, the national rifle association which opposes any assault weapons ban or new restrictions on high capacity ammunition clips. biden has suggested that the president's interested in the military-style assault weapons ban and banning the high capacity clips. creation of a national database to track weapons, very controversial and increased mental health efforts to spot and help people that might be in trouble. they are expected to meet with the entertainment and video game

industry perhaps late tomorrow afternoon or friday. it's unclear whether biden will come to that meeting. it's fairly obvious that the emphasis from the white house here is gun control legislation not a lot of the other culture concerns that guns rights advocates support. they say there should be attention to violent video games and how it affects the national culture. jon: thank you, carl. jenna: supporters of stricter gun laws often say that fewer guns would mean fewer crimes. are they right? juicwilliam la jeunesse has more on a revealing study. >> reporter: america has a record high number of guns but a lower crime rate. is it because guns deter more crimes than they cause. those in washington who are using in tragic but rare event a mass shooting to reconsider america's gun laws are talking

about that. >> the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. >> reporter: following that remark critics pounced. >> there is really no evidence to support that argument, that arming the good guys is a good idea. >> reporter: after analyzing 62 mass shootings mother jones magazine concluded arming guards, teachers or citizens won't stop most gunman. >> in the last 30 years not a single shooting has been stopped by an armed citizen. >> reporter: some dispute that. >> i think it's a mistake to look at mass public shootings and try in anyway to determine whether gun use was effective or pref srapbt based on the atypical homicides that we have. >> reporter: last month an off-duty cop shot a gunman while he tried to enter a theater. americans use guns every day to stop crime. up to 2.5 million times a year according to a florida state

university study. others lower that figure to 1 million. >> when victims use guns to defend themselves they are far less likely to be injured and lose their property. >> reporter: armed citizens did help stop public shootings in colorado and nevada but not without risk. in 2005 a trained firearm's instructor died trying to stop a gunman in texas. in tacoma an armed sis seven was injured while confronting a shopping mall shooter. >> you won't find anyone in law enforcement that supports the idea that ordinary citizens whipping out guns in confined or chaotic situations and shooting. >> reporter: others argue that mass shootings are no excuse to disarm the public. >> the vast majority of people who use guns to defd themselves never report it to the police because they were not injured they didn't lose their property. >> reporter: statistically less than one 10th of one percent of all homicides in the united states are called by mass shootings. half of the gunman did have mental health issues, which you know is a subject of debate in

washington. jenna: part of the priorities they say of the tax force at hand. we'll see what comes from it. interesting study to take a look at here. this is very much a federal issue but it's also a state issue when we talk about gun control and gun laws. we are getting word now that new york governor andrew cuomo is preparing to announce his own set of sweeping gun control measures. >> reporter: governor cuomo thinks there is a role for states to play here. he is going to be one of the first governors to enact gun control laws in the wake of the sandy hook mass kufrplt he's using his annual "state of the state" address today to layout his plan. he's looking for an expansion ever the state's existing assault weapons ban to include more types of firearms. a limit on the size of bullet clips or magazine has allow someone to fire off hundreds of rounds in mere seconds. he also wants sales of large quantities of ammunition to be flagged to law enforcement and he's calling for background checks to include a closer look at mental health records,

something william was just mentioning. he also wants harsher sentences for those who commit crimes using guns. after a huge outcry cuomo who himself is a rifle owner has backed away from comments he made last month that the state may simply have to confiscate people's assault weapons. he's hoping to pass these measures with the help of state lawmakers, though he's not getting the support of republicans who are very influential in the state legislature. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: just in, new problems for boeing as a pair of its brand-new dreamliner jets run into problems at boston's logan airport this week. we showed you on monday a battery fire that caused severe damage to a japan airlines plane. you can see the smoke pouring out of the hatch in the here. another japan airlines dreamliner dumped 40 gallons of rule on the runway. and there was a problem with the brakes system. boeing stock is taking a hit.

jeri will list is the host of the business report on the fox business network and skwroeupbgs us now. >> reporter: the stock fell 3% yesterday, it's up today as people take in the news about the dreamliner. it is a critical product for boeing. they put a lot of money into it. it's technologically advanced made out of lightweight carbon fiber, it's supposed to save on fuel costs over time. they have 800 orders for these airplanes. as you know japan airlines has taken a couple of them here. united continental has taken delivery of these planes. they've delivered 49 of these planes. it's important to note here why there are questions about these planes, nobody has canceled an order for them yet. they are expecting at boeing for this to be the next big product for them. however, production delays, design problems have plagued the production of this very important phra*eufpb for th plane for the company. just last month the faa put out

a directive to airline who had bought this thing saying, look, improperly assembled engine fuel feeds is causing problems for this airline. they said ultimately it could result in engine power losses or even fire, as we saw. just the other day. certainly the faa is investigating, continuing to investigate and to look into this. jon. jon: i think boeing is still the nation's largest exporter, right? so problems for boeing are really not good for the bottom line and the whole country. >> reporter: that's right. they are a critically important company and one of the biggest exporters mainly because a the price tag on each and every one of their products is so very high. it's something that a lot of people keep an eye on. boeing has had a successful track record with. its products. ace said before nobody is canceling orders yet. jon: thank you. jenna: a retired f.b.i. agent held hostage and washington believes the government of iran is deeply, deeply involved here.

the man's wife wants to know why isn't our government doing more to set him free? the back story here coming up. the supreme court is deciding whether police need a warrant to conduct a blood test and suspected drunk drivers. do they? we'll talk about that coming up. [ loud party sounds ] hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've gotine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach.

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jenna: welcome back, everyone. right now before the supreme court a case that could have a huge impact on how police enforce the laws against drunk driving. shannon bream just got back from the high court and is live from washington with more on this story. shannon. >> reporter: hi, there, jenna. the fourth amendment provides a strong protection against search and seizure. today the court had to grapple with what that means in the context of drunk driving case. a missouri driver was stopped, the officer who pulled him over said he seemed to be drunk and completely bombed the field sobriety test. when asked he refused a breathalyzer twice. the officer said you're going to get your blood drawn. he took him to a medical facility and december spaoeult the driver's pre test his blood

was taken and he tested nearly twice the legal limit. during the time the officer never took the time to get a warrant believing he was justified in ordering the blood test as an exigent circumstance. he saw evidence could be lost if the alcohol began to dissipate from the man's bloodstream. the driver challenged this warrantless evidence and one. today the nine justices had to balance tpropbg fourth amendment protections while making sure that drunk drivers are kept off the street. justice so the owe mier said what could be more eupbl intrusive than putting a needle in someone's arm and taking out blood without a warrant. most justices appeared to be on that page. samuel alito said what about a rural area where there isn't a judge or magistrate available in the middle of the night to help you get that warrant. this is going to be a very delicate balance. all we know we'll have a decision from the justices some time before june. jenna: shannon, thank you. jon: the u.s. now says it believes iran is holding a

former f.b.i. agent and not terrorists. the man's wife says washington should be doing more to help bring him home. we'll get into that. plus, she is releasing some extraordinary photos that show robert levinson being held whose stafpblgt he disappeared in iran in 2007. efforts to find him have stalled. david lee miller live in fox central now. david. >> reporter: john, it was almost two years ago that christine levinson received an email containing five photos of her missing husband. she is making them public to draw attention to his abduction n. each photo he is dressed in an orange jump suit with shackles around his neck and arms. he is holding signs. he says i am here in guantanamo, do you know where that is. another one reads help me. a third why you cannot help me. the fourth this is a result of 30 years serving for u.s.a. and lastly, four years you count

or you don't want. there is no information about where or when the photos were taken. his wife says it's not clear why they were sent. >> i have no idea what purpose they serve, which is why we held onto them so long. i'm releasing them now to make sure that people are aware that he is still in someone's custody, and i believe it's the iranians and has not been released, and it is almost six years an is still not home with his family. >> reporter: u.s. officials also believe that he is being held by iran. he was working as a private investigator and last seen on an iranian island before he disappeared. u.s. investigators say the expertise used to cover up the track of the email sender looks like the work of professionals, such as iran's intelligence and security service. iran meanwhile has repeatedly denied any involvement in the abduction. his former employer the f.b.i. has posted a million dollar reward for information leading to his return.

they say the agency is quote, doing all we can to bring bob home safe. next month his daughter will be married, the family not giving up hope he will be there to walk her dawn the aisle. jon. jon: that would be a great thing if it happens. david lee miller, thanks. jenna: the vice president is at the white house hearing personal stories about gun violence from victims. straight ahead, what we can expect from his task force and the groups that weigh in. i paint people from my life mostly.

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to keep the gun debate front and center. vice president biden today launching a series of meetings with special interest groups to mobilize support for new policies addressing gun violence. let's talk with charlie hurt a

columnist for the washington times. everyone agrees we've got to reduce the gun violence there this country, charlie, the question is how do you go about it? what does the vice president seem to think the answer is? >> well, i think the white house has made several clear signals that they intend to do focus very much on the gun side of things, the gun ownership and the gun purring sid purchase purchase side of things. they've proposed limiting the high capacity magazines to actually tracking all guns in the united states. and then also to -- creating larger government lists that would sort of set up who is qualified, and who is not qualified to own guns. all of that gets a little bit scary for them once it gets over to congress, because, you know, i think we've discussed this before, in the senate, which is run by democrats you have a lot of democrats from big rural

states, they understand guns, they understand how they work, and they are very, very strong proponents of gun rights, and so it's sort of hard to see how something like this could get through congress. but who knows. the white house is making a huge push and maybe they'll be able to, you know, make something get through that has never been able to get through before. jon: he said something interesting this morning and you've been in washington a longtime so i want to get your translation of it. he says executive action can be taken but we haven't decided what that is yet. what does that mean? >> well, what he is suggesting there is that president obama could sign some sort of executive order to do what we don't know, but you want to talk about something that would cause a -- the fiercist fight i think we've ever seen in washington in the last couple of decades, if the president actually passed some sort of executive order, which means he does it, it's an

administration policy, and it does something to curtail gun rights in the country, without going through congress i think you would see a backlash like we've never seen before. coursof course the problem with that is as soon as another president comes n it could be a democrat or a republican, they could undue that executive order instantaneously, and the question i think they should ask themselves is, you know, why would you want to go that route if your proposals can't get through congress maybe that might suggest that there is a lack of support for them in the country, and therefore it gets kind of -- it gets kind of touchy. jon: there was a time obviously when assault weapons were banned for the sale of new assault weapons was banned. that expired and gun control advocates say we have to get back to that point. did it work? did it help? >> the whole so-called assault weapons ban, especially for

people who actually knew about it, it was kind of a joke, because what it did was you had a bunch of lawmakers who didn't know anything about guns and you have a media that doesn't know about guns, and what they wound up doing is they wound up banning guns that kind of looked scary. they didn't ban anything -- there was no functionality of a gun that was actually banned by the so-called assault weapons ban. it was just things that looked kind of military-like. and so it was pointless, sort of. and since the repeal of it, or the expiration of it, there has been, you know, a huge explosion in the sales of the guns that were kind of scary looking. they are the most popular guns out there. they include the bushmaster ar15 that we've seen in -- i think it's also important to point out, one of the reasons i think we've seen these weapons at crime scenes so much lately is because so many people are buying them, because they like them. but there is no difference between -- in fact it's far less

powerful than your average deer rifle that, you know, an 18-year-old uses to shoot deer. jon: lots of questions that have to be wrestled with in there. they are apparently undertaking that in dc right now. thank you. jenna: day three of an emotionally charged hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to put the suspect in the colorado movie theatre massacre on trial. first responders breaking down as they tell the court about victims they found at scene. we are also hearing more disturbing details about james holmes, the suspect in this case as the prosecution outlines the case against him. brand-new information just out on the drought tkpweupg th gripping the united states. we hear this in the summer but this is such a big issue we have brand-new information here in the new year. there are new concerns about what it means for farmers and food prices and your grocery store. agriculture secretary tom vilsack joins us for an

exclusive interview next. . . . ..

jenna: this just in. new information on the severe drought gripping our country. the worst one in decades in fact the agriculture department just releasing some new information here designating 597 counties, about 1/5 of the united states, as natural disaster areas in the year ahead. last year at the same time for perspective it was only 95 counties. we certainly talked a lot

about the drought last year and conditions that caused a lot of widespread devastation in so many communities. now even if you don't live anywhere near a farm you're probably feeling the financial pinch in the supermarket. it is a dynamic when we talk about food prices. there are concerns that the trend will continue. higher food prices and more drought. joining us now for first and only interview today on this topic is the secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack. secretary, nice to have you with us today. >> great to be with you as well. jenna: we mentioned food prices and those numbers that are quite profound thinking about it. 1/5 of the united states. describe the real world impact of having nearly 600 counties as natural disaster areas at the beginning of the year? >> well this is because these counties have, four eight consecutive weeks been on the drought monitor with severe drought conditions which indicates they're headed for potential problems if we don't get a december spring and summer. this basically opens up disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers in those counties not just

through the usda, but potentially through the sba. it is important for planning purposes that folks kind of know where they stand. you mentioned food prices. interestingly enough, farmers and ranchers only get 16 cents of every food dollar. even though commodity prices go up because of limited supply it may not have as much impact on food prices as say, energy prices might. jenna: interesting. there are a lot of dynamics at play, that is to be sure what we look at when we buy in the supermarket. you mentioned what we can do, when we have a problem we wonder what we can do about it and some of the disaster relief. is the response from the usda to something like a drought and the government in general similar to the response of the government and use of taxpayer money when a natural disaster happens like a hurricane? >> it is a little bit different because we don't operate under the fema process or fema program so we don't have resources allocated or appropriated for this purpose. that is one of the reasons why we were so frustrated of

failure of the house to get a farming bill through in the waning days of the 2012 congressional session. that would allow us to provide cash assistance to the producers. as it is right now we're limited to what we can do. we're trying to get the rest of the federal farmly to focus on these farmers an ranchers. the right now the corps of engineers is focused on the mississippi river and able to get crops. jenna: i heard some of the barges are own half full is that right? because the weight, they're worried about running aground? >> that's correct. the river is basically down to a very minimum in terms of barge traffic and as a result, the corps is working to clear up a channel for the barges that requires work to clear out rocks that have been there forever obviously. they're doing it on expedited basis. this interrupts the flow of traffic which is infortunate. fortunately we still have traffic on the mississippi. there were concerns we might not even have it at this

point in time. we have to keep our fingers crosses that the water will flow down the mississippi. jenna: you think about droit and barren fields but how important the mississippi river is to commerce in country. they ended up extending the old farm bill. the question of the role of government we talk about a lot these days. i was doing interviewing and research leading up to this segment. i got two different reactions when i asked about the role of government. one person said to me the role of government is to pray for rain. that is all they can do. i had another person say to me, well, the government has been involved in this industry, the farming industry for a long time at this moment, with this drought you can't pull back. those are two opposite ends of the spectrum. where do you stand there. >> i think you have to do both. obviously praying for rain is always a good idea but in terms of government's role crop insurance and providing disaster assistance are two ways we can provide help and assistance to make sure we don't lose farmers.

the reality is we're a very blessed nation in terms of our acialt to -- ability to feed ourselves. we want farmers to populate rural areas. one way you do that keeping peep on the farm. if they have a tough year, do everything right and be a perfect farmer but mother nature won't basically cooperate and they lose everything they have. this is a very difficult situation where government can play an important role if we have the tools. right now we have limited tools. jenna: if, for example, farmer is facing bankruptcy due in part to this drought, this is loaded term, use whatever term you like, bailout for the farmer? is there some sort of program you're looking to develop like that one? >> it is a little bit different than that basically farmers go out and buy insurance like we buy home insurance or car insurance. farmers buy crop insurance and that crop insurance is a partnership between the farmer and the government and insurance company. when they're faced with the loss of a crop they get a payment. obviously not as much they would get if they sold the

crop but it is enough to keep them afloat. in addition to that we have in the past provided additional cash assistance to livestock producers and dairy producer who may not have the capacity or may not have the opportunity to buy crop insurance because it is not available for livestock or dairy. that disaster assistance basically supplements the crop insurance program. jenna: last question. we talk about the environment we talk about the fiscal environment, and that is very much reality for you as the secretary of agriculture. where do you see the opportunity to cut, when you look at your own budget in the fiscal environment in the year ahead where are you looking potentially for the savings of american people. >> we reduced our budget by 12 1/2%. our workforce is down by 6,000 folks. we're restructuring, closing offices and being more efficient but there is also the opportunity within the farm programs. that is one of the missed opportunities not getting the farm bill passed because there were reforms in what the senate passed and what the house ag committee passed would have provide somewhere between 23 and $34

billion worth of savings. hopefully we rest sure rec reforms as we continue the debate this year. jenna: nice to have you on the program. really appreciate your time today. >> thank you. jon: now this fox news alert. testimony just wrapped up in a colorado courtroom revealing some chilling new details about the movie theater massacre. reports that the suspect, james holmes, took photos of the theater, surveillance pictures, in the month before the shooting. alicia acuna live now from the courthouse. alicia? >> reporter: hi, jon. yes, this came from testimony from the aurora police department. and i have a list here that was given to us by our producer in the courtroom. this was a phone that was found in james holmes car and police say on that phone there were pictures that started on, that were james holmes took on june 29th, 2012. that is three weeks before the shooting. and on it they found two

interior theater pictures of the theater took place, showing carpet, double-doors, door hinges. there are photos of the exterior of the movie complex, sidewalks, floodlights and emergency exit doors. there are additional photos of the theater but there are also photos of james holmes himself with his red orange hair wearing a majority of the tactical ballistic gear we've heard so much about with his assault rifles shrunk on his person. that was taken july 5th. there are additional photos of james holmes apartment, countertop, kitchen area, mason jars with an amber color liquid with wires, balls of black powder taken on july 16th. this is leading up to the date of july 20th, the date of the shooting. additionally there are photos of his living room with a number of wires, paint canisters, bottles, turquois blue duct tape. all of this. there are pictures of james holmes making faces into the camera with his tong sticking out, red orange

hair. black skullcap police say he was wearing the night of the shooting and black contacts in his eyes. this photo was taken on july 19th, 6:22 p.m. the shooting again taking place on july 20th. now, jon, you mentioned the things had wrapped up. the prosecution has said it is finished presenting its evidence. it is calling no more witnesses. they are in a recess right now. so when they come back they can wrap to the judge, they can wrap their case to judge william sylvester. additionally the defense will not be calling witnesses and not presenting evidence. something different than what we heard earlier. it is up to the judge to decide when he will rule when and if james holmes goes to trial. jon: alicia acuna in colorado. thank you. jenna: up-close look at a serious civil war. we talk about being no end to violence there but now we have some news potentially of some talks happening later this week. we'll introduce you to the photographer who took this photo on the screen who just returned from syria,

captured the war in a way few others could. she will join us next. ♪ ♪ ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. i haven't thought about aspirin for years. aspirin wouldn't really help my headache, i don't think. aspirin is just old school. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey,

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jenna: fox news has confirmed russian and u.s. diplomats will hold a meeting with the international mediator for syria on friday. according to the u.n.'s latest estimate more than 60,000 people have died in syria's civil war, again just an estimate and the president there, president assad, is refusing to negotiate with rebels and so often we say there is no end in sight to the violence. that's a big question mark about all of that. there are few journalists inside syria so we rarely get to see images like this. often when we show you the images we have to say it is amateur video or amateur photography. not in this case. what you're seeing there on your screen is the anguish of a man who just lost eight members of his family in a government airstrike. it was shot by photographer

nicole tong. she just returned from syria after spending months documenting the fighting there. nice to have you in studio. >> thanks for having me. jenna: you just got back, you've been back about three weeks now? >> yes. jenna: how do you feel being back having seen what you have? >> i think it's sometimes, it is a very difficult transition to make because it's hard to, you know, detach yourself and forget about, not forget but just to be very far away from a place that spent so many months inside of. jenna: the conversation here has been continuingly who are the rebels? what kind of islamists factions are active here? is this really a civil war? when you hear these conversations what do you think based on your experience? >> i definitely became very convinced it is now a civil war. it became a civil war. didn't start out as that. you know, people were, civilians and activists, people generally against the government were protesting

peacefully in the beginning and then, you know, the government decided to use force to disperse those crowds and to crush the uprising that had taken shape and had a lot of traction in the rest of the arab world. jenna: you've been so close what happened here. i want to show our viewers one photo in particular. it is a little boy on a hospital bed. >> yeah. jenna: tell us about the photo? how did you get access? what is the story of this child? >> this child was injured very badly in an airstrike. government forces were using fighter jets to bomb civilian neighborhoods in august after the fighting began in aleppo and this boy had just been rushed into the hospital. he was very quiet. he wasn't crying when he was on the hospital bed as the doctors were treating him. but this also tells you that most of the people who are getting injured and killed are civilians and, you know, children are very badly affected. they don't have school to go to. they're waiting in bread lines up to eight hours a

day. basically running chores. and they are very vulnerable. jenna: we also have another photo of a man rushing with a girl across the street. in this scenario, what is happening here? >> this was the aftermath of an airstrike. his building had been hit by a fighter jet and he was running, he picked up his daughter and he just ran out of the building trying to look for safety but in those instances it was very hard to find any kind of shelter. jenna: in this situation you're rather close to this airstrike as well. in some other photos you're right behind people that are shooting off buildings. we have one of those photos as well. you're also an american. you're also a woman. how dangerous is this for you and what's the reaction in general to you wanting to be present in these moments? >> when i'm in these moments i'm obviously, safety is a big factor. i'm thinking about, you know, what i have to do to keep myself alive and safe but my main concern is really

documenting what's happening to the people who are not a part of fighting most of the time. civilians who are, you know, sought out by the government in their own homes. they have no safety. they have no protection. and they have to, they just have to deal with it. that is how they have to get on with life. so i'm not often really thinking about myself there. i'm there because i have a camera and that is in itself very powerful. jenna: nicole, great to have you on the program. >> thank you so much. jenna: we really appreciate the work. you have a great website. encourage our viewers to check it out for scenes from libya and lot of places. we look forward to having you back. >> thank you. jon: very courageous. disaster on the commute to work. a ferry carrying hundreds of people to their jobs in new york city crashes into a dock in lower manhattan. dozens of people left injured. police testing the crew for alcohol and drugs. what their results turned up so far. and they were some of the superstars in their

sport, all three of these former major league players came under a cloud of suspicion involving illegal performance-enhancing drugs. just over an hour from now we'll learn whether roger clemens, barry bonds and sammy sosa make it to the hall of fame on their first opportunity. what are their chances? what will the voters say about the so-called steroid era in the national pass sometime? when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

>> i'm not saying senator mitchell's report is entirely wrong. i am saying brian mcnamee's statements about me are wrong. let me be clear, i have never taken steroids or hgh. thank you. jon: that was former big league pitcher roger clemens nearly five years ago, denying he ever used steroids or human growth

hormone to enhance his baseball career. clemens and the two other men on your screen all became ensnared in controversies whether they used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. we're about to find out whether the 600 people who comprise baseball writers association of america think any of these players has earned the sports equivalent of immortality. the hall of fame vote announcement an hour away. in many ways the first major judgment on baseball's steroid era. let's talk about it with fox news contributor jim gray. and a former minor league baseball player who make as living teaching kids the right way to play the game. author of coach dan on sportsmanship. jim, what about it? you're not voting in the hall of fame vote but if you were, does any of these guys deserve to be in? >> well, based on their accomplishments, yes. the problem is is they were great players who enhanced their performance and had greater accomplishments

because they elected to go down a route which is cheating. and so, no, they will not get in and, if you believe the surveys that have been taken of the voters, they're going to have less than 50% of the vote. jon: you have to have 75% to make it in on any ballot. they have got 15 years. is baseball going to perhaps, reward them at some point down the road? >> well, jon, they have already been rewarded by the institution in my opinion because their records stand. if you go back and look at it, bonds has the most home runs ever. seven cy youngs for roger clemens. so they have been rewarded by the institution, i guess at some point the baseball writers will look at this and at some point they will be in the hall of fame. they had had hall of fame careers but they're damaged and stained. you have to have integrity, sportsmanship and there is part of the criteria and they doesn't meet that standard. jon: do any of the players deserve to be in the hall of

fame? >> not if they took any performance-enhancing drugs. my main concern the influence it had on our youth. these professional athletes are role models. millions of children are taking steroids and unfortunate but we need to teach the children the right way to play, the fair and honest way. we should take value-based approach to coaching our children, as parents, as teachers, and as educators. as professional athletes we should insure they learn the life skills they need long after playing the game such as fairness, honesty, compassion. jon: look at clemens, for instance. he was acquitted. he testified in front of congress said i never used steroids. he got taken to court for perjury. and he was acquitted, danny. >> he was acquit the. unfortunately he may or may not have taken the steroids but again the focus here is on the children. this, win at all costs mentality, that is taking place in the big leagues has trickled down to the lowest levels. we have parents going after

coaches because they don't like that the player is not getting enough playing time. coaches going after officials. there is yelling, there is screaming. there is profanity. there is cheating. we should teach our children better to fail than it is to cheat. we should create winners the fair and honest way. jon: jim, what about that? >> well, yes but you know, there has been a mantra in professional sports for a long time, if you're not cheating you're not trying. that is what goes on these days. everybody, it is a vicious struggle to be number one, they all want to be number one. the money is so great, the adulation. a lot of times the guys are not thinking about the long term and how they're damaging their reputation or their legacy so this doesn't come into play. there are several surveys by olympian athletes, who were asked, whether have a shorter life or win a gold medal. overwhelming numbers, 80 percentile, 90 percentile, they would rather win a gold in medal. it is going on.

it is rampant about the system. look at lance armstrong he never tested positive according to the drug testers and he won seven championships. they're always a step ahead and i hear what you you're saying about teaching the kids but these kids are learning so many different other things and it's hard to real it back in. at some point they will have to. jon: you got to start somewhere. i think that is danny's point. jim and danny, thank you both. we'll see what the voters announce in an hour. >> thank you, jon. jenna: some kids play baseball and others the rubic cube. ripe old age of 10 he's a champ. we'll tell you about his special story next. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

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